Eye: Is Taylor Swift Expressing A Fierce Born-Again Feminism in 'Reputation'? We'll See
/
The public has spoken, with Taylor Swift shattering records with her newest single 'Look What You Made Me Do', hit one of her new-girl makeover in 'Reputation'. On August 18, Taylor went dark, wiping her social media accounts clean, deleting all her posts on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. She zapped her avatar picture and headers on her Twitter and Facebook pages, replacing them with promotional pictures for 'Reputation.
Savvy fans were stunned but also suspicious that a big release was on the way, ready to light up her official website that languished in cyberspace as a blank, black screen. Either Taylor Swift was having a breakdown or a new day was coming. Ardent fans reminded newbies that it was three years ago on August 18 that Swift released her single 'Shake It Off' and announced that her fifth album 1989 was in release.
As Billboard notes, from August 21-23, Swift began posting dark, caption-free video clips of snakes. Fans noted that it was National Snake Day July 17, 2017 that the Kardashian-Swift feud became public. Personally -- knowing about the feud but not National Snake Day -- I saw a true-grit, feminist woman being born. No more Ms Nice Girl -- a reality exposed at the end of 'Look What You Made Me Do' video where slithering images of Shakira, Madonna and Beyonce clapped in my own consciousness.
On August 25, an animated version of 'Look What You Made Me Do' was released, breaking the record for the most-watched lyric video within 24 hours of its release. This minute it has 49,965,401 views.
Born Again
As promised, Taylor Swift dropped her 'Look What You Made Me Do' music video, with perfect timing at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. Then she moved it to YouTube, where it has nearly 75 million views. Billboard believes it will be No. 1 on next week's 'Hot 100'.
Swift's most ardent fans all believe that 'Reputation' is deeper than originally thought. Buzzfeed lists all the 'hidden meanings' fans are finding in the songs. We don't care about that, but #20 gets our attention.
20. But other people have a different theory -- that each song will be about a different, 'fake' Taylor' created by the media.
Note that fans feel no complicity in creating this 'fake Taylor'. Fan complicity in creating stars that meet their own needs is never part of their adoration stories. Kim Kardashian understands this reality way better than old-school Taylor Swift. But Swift is perhaps now whip smart on the whole conversation.
22. The scene where Taylor's standing above a tower of her past selves, all scrabbling to climb up, is full of meaning, too.
Some fans associate these scenes with Taylor Swift's proverbial climb to the top, only to take a fall. Others see it as an emergence of Swift's true self.
23. And, finally, people have also noticed that this shot resembles a crucifixion.
This visual brought the new Taylor Swift into strong focus for me. She is defiant, rising again as a Smart Sensuality woman in charge of her own agenda. Fans will never see this as any statement about them and not only the media, Kim and Kanye, and the adoring 'girl' who shared the stage before the entire world, as Kanye West grabbed her trophy, saying it belonged to Beyonce.
Bearing Witness
Absent from the online analysis so far is Taylor Swift's recent lawsuit win in Denver. On August 14, a jury ruled for Swift in a high profile case in which the pop star accused a Denver radio disc jockey of groping her.
Initially Swift let the incident go . . . until rumors of it permeated pop culture. The disc jockey David Mueller sued Taylor Swift, her mother and her manager for radio, Frank Bell, saying that he was falsely accused of groping Swift and that he had lost his job over the alleged incident. He sued the defendants for $2.98 million in damages.
Swift launched her own countersuit, suing Mueller for just $1 for assault and battery. Her testimony was widely circulated in the press in early August, making her a top-flight feminist icon for every woman who has been unceremoniously groped in life. That includes me.
The fiery Swift in 'Look What You Made Me Do' is the same Swift in the Denver courtroom. NPR writes:
Yeah, you know, her cross-examination really got the attention of advocates for survivors of sexual assault. And they said that it got their attention because she was unapologetic. She was consistent. And she really refused to be shamed, even at one point looking at the lawyer and said, I'm going to - I refuse to make this about me, that this is not my fault.
You know, she had some pretty strong language during her cross-examination. When it was suggested that Mueller might have touched her somewhere else unintentionally by his lawyer, she said, no, he did not touch my rib. He did not touch my hand. He touched my bare ass. Now, that's a direct quote. And she used that word several times in court.
In another instance, Mueller's lawyer asked why she wasn't critical of her bodyguard for not keeping Mueller away from her. And her answer again was, I'm critical of your client for sticking his hand up my skirt. And that is what advocates looked at, saying she was really refusing to be shamed in court where victims, they say, are often retraumatized.
For AOC, snakes and crucifixes add up to a mega statement about female rights and America's attempt to squash them in the era of Trump. Right-wingers are everywhere and social conservatives are salivating at the opportunity to put us in our places. Taylor Swift's metamorphosis is timely and important, and if she sustains it, she moves into a different league of female cultural icons. In America, just like the Arab world, people are obsessed with a woman's reputation, making Swift's album spot on.
It's critical though, to remember that friends, fans and so-called feminists are not exempt from condemning other women. Look at the absurd frenzy that the Internet went into over Kim Kardashian's Steven Klein photo shoot.
I had a so-called feminist trying to build a Handmaiden's coalition to protect women's rights unfriend me on FB because I refused to condemn the editorial and also to accept so-called constructive criticism that the fashion industry promotes anorexia. Note that I've been actively involved in that fight for a decade and do believe that we've made considerable progress on the topic.
This northeastern progressive would have none of it. I was damned for not lying down while a woman artist whose sister died of anorexia told me that I post fashion editorials that exalt extreme thinness.
While remaining devoted to her fans, Taylor Swift now sees them in their own complexity and neediness. They have made her famous and rich, but also at a price.
My own instincts are that Taylor Swift believes she has a lot to say, which is why she is releasing her new single 'Look What You Made Me Do' and the new album 'Reputation' with a 'Reputation' magazine featuring two different covers and two 72-page volumes. The magazines, with graphics by Mert Atlas and Marcus Piggot in volume 1 and Benny Horne in volume 2, contain Taylor's personal photo and artwork, as well as handwritten lyrics and poetry. The magazines w/music will be available at Target beginning November 10.
Fans who support Swift by buying her music and/or magazine will get priority when buying her upcoming tour tickets. The Ticketmaster collaboration will create a unique experience for fans of her music, and help them secure tickets directly before the bulk buyers, bots and ticket scalpers swoop in to make big bucks off of Taylor Swift.
Watching what's next with Taylor Swift has even gotten my attention, as she puts on her hip boots and stride into the real-world, swirling waters of women's lives in America. Whether she's a true leader remains to be seen. But she has definitely broken the mold at a time when young women in America need fierce feminists more than ever. Hulu's Handmaid's Tale is a chilling hit for a reason.
